 |
|
|
We've just finished production on the July-August issue of Preaching, which is our 20th anniversary issue. It's at the printer and should be in the mail in about a week, so you can look forward to some enjoyable special features as we look back over the past two decades. (If you're not a subscriber, there's still time for you! Click here to begin your subscription and receive the July-August issue with other subscribers.) One of the anniversary highlights in this issue is a look back at many of the interviews we've published over the years. We've included excerpts from interviews with preachers like W.A. Criswell, David Jeremiah, Max Lucado, Bill Hybels, John MacArthur, Lloyd Ogilvie, Stephen F. Olford, Adrian Rogers, Andy Stanley, John Stott, Chuck Swindoll, Gardner C. Taylor, Rick Warren, William Willimon, Ed Young (Jr. and Sr.) and many more. There are lots of great quotes in these interviews, but here's one I particularly appreciated as a great reminder to all of us (taken from an interview with pastor Jerry Vines): "The preacher is facing tremendous obstacles today. Here he is preaching to a group of people who every night watch very polished people deliver newscasts, reading from teleprompters. And here the preacher is, perhaps with limited training, standing before the people — it can be very intimidating. But the preacher who is walking with God has a communicative tool that is unavailable to any other communicator on earth — and that is the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can take a stumbling, stammering preacher's message and use it to bring about miraculous changes." Michael
Duduit, Editor There will not be an issue of PreachingNow next week; the next issue will be dated June 28. Click here to visit "I Was Just Thinking" for insights and observations about faith and culture issues.
Cultivate intimacy with God Ministers of the gospel must not become so absorbed with ministry that they fail to cultivate intimacy with God, insists Chuck Kelley, president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He says that intimacy with God must be the core of every believer's life. "Left unguarded, left unwatched, it is the deterioration of that core that can undo everything we spend a lifetime doing," Kelley emphasized during the seminary's recent commencement ceremonies. To illustrate, Kelley told of a destructive variety of termites that came to New Orleans in the 1950s. The formosan termite arrived in the city undetected on a boat bringing goods to the Port of New Orleans. Since then, the small insects have cost the city millions of dollars in repairs. "The termites came in such an innocent way, and no one even knew they were here," Kelley said. "(But) The federal government thinks the formosan termites may go down as the single-most destructive pest in the history of the United States." Kelley held up a cross-section of a large oak tree from the seminary campus. Only a few inches of wood remained on the outer portion of the tree. The middle had been completely eaten away by formosan termites. The tree had fallen — unable to support its own weight. "As you see, it has no heart," Kelley said. "It has no middle. These are very small little bugs, but left alone over time, they can be absolutely devastating." A similar thing happens to ministers who fail to cultivate their relationship with God, Kelley warned. Indeed, ministers never plan to leave their spouses, they never plan to disappoint their churches and families. "Something like that happens in your life when you fail to guard your heart," Kelley said. "Above all things, keep your heart diligent for out of it flow the issues of life, . . . the rivers of life." (from the Baptist Message, 6-2-05; click here to read the full article.) http://www.baptistmessage.com/articledetail.php?articleID=2308
Purpose of sermonic explanation is clarification of truth In the second edition of his classic text Christ-Centered Preaching (Baker), Bryan Chapell observes, "The goal of a preacher's exegesis is to be able to state (usually in the main points and subpoints) the universal truths established by a text for the congregation. The accompanying explanation supports these points of truth principle and is furthered by illustration and application. The danger, of course, is that contemporary concerns will sway a preacher's interpretation. A preacher must remain aware of the temptation to soften, recast, or change a passage's truths in light of a congregation's situation or sensitivities. Still, though the danger to abandon scriptural truth in the light of the congregational pressures is great, we must remain careful not to abort biblical truth by delivering words and stating conclusions that have not breathed the air of our listeners in the sermon's preparation. "Discerning the human background and the persuasive focus of a passage prepares pastors to relate the explanatory material to similar concerns faced by a present congregation and provides direction for a message's organization. Without relating explanations of a text to the concerns of a congregation, there are no fences to corral the thousands of explanatory alternatives, other than time constraints and a preacher's personal interests. Neither of these is more holy than the desire to explain matters in such a way that they can and will be heard." (Click here to order a copy of the new edition of Christ-Centered Preaching.)
Pastors not satisfied with prayer lives Very few Protestant ministers are satisfied with their personal prayer lives, according to a study by Ellison Research for LifeWay Christian Resources. The study reveals just 16 percent are very satisfied with their personal prayer lives, 47 percent are somewhat satisfied, 30 percent somewhat dissatisfied and 7 percent very dissatisfied. The median amount of prayer time per day is 30 minutes, with a mean of 39 minutes. Although younger ministers are much less satisfied with their prayer lives, they spend about as much time in prayer per day as do older ministers. Lutherans and Presbyterians tend to spend less time in prayer than do those from other denominations, while Pentecostals and Methodists spend more time than average. The average minister's prayer time looks like this: 32 percent in petition/requests, 20 percent in quiet time or listening to God, 18 percent in thanksgiving, 17 percent in praise and 14 percent in confession. If these percentages are applied to the average amount of time ministers spend in prayer, the typical pastor spends twelve minutes per day with prayer requests, eight minutes in quiet time, seven minutes giving thanks, seven minutes in praise, and five minutes confessing sin. What did they pray about? At least nine out of 10 had prayed for the needs of individual congregation members, the congregation's spiritual health, spiritual growth for their church and wisdom in leading their church. Some of the things ministers were least likely to have prayed for included the financial health and numerical growth of the church, their own financial needs, persecuted Christians in other countries, individual Christian leaders, and their denomination. (Baptist Press, 6-6-05; click here to read the full article.) http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=20918
If you missed this year's National Conference on Preaching, click here to learn about ordering audio cassettes and CDs of conference sessions and workshops. And be sure to mark your calendar for next year's conference: April 24-26, 2006, in Dallas, TX. Our theme will be "Preaching Creatively."
ILLUSTRATION: Resurrection It was Easter Sunday and the pastor gathered the children at the front of the church to ask them about the meaning of Easter. The pastor was disappointed as he listened to the first response: "Easter is the day that the Easter Bunny comes and kids look for hidden eggs and eat chocolate." The second response was more encouraging as a young girl said, "Easter is the time we remember that Jesus died and later rose from the dead." Trying to relate that event to the present, the pastor asked, "what happens when those who believe in Jesus die?" The children thought for a moment before one cried out "they go to heaven." Pressing further he asked, "What happens to those who don't believe in Jesus when they die?" After a long pause, one boy blurted out "they have a bad day." (Craig A. Smith, Sermon Illustrations for an Asian Audience, Manila: OMF Publishing, 2004)
ILLUSTRATION: Stewardship, Trust In his book The Cycle of Victorious Giving (Beacon Hill Press), Stan Toler tells about the time when he was a college student and attended the annual missions conference at his church. "I felt impressed by God to give $100 as a pledge of faith. And at that time it certainly was a faith pledge. College expenses had put a colossal crimp on my finances. I paid the pledge promptly, but it took the last of my cash. After the offering, I was broke. Good old-fashioned worry weighed heavily on my mind. "Soon after, while I was working part-time as a barber at the North Court Barber Shop in Circleville, Ohio, my boss said he wanted to talk to me. More worry. "'Stan,' he began, 'all the other barbers in this shop have a chance to get more tips and profits from the sale of hair products than you. But you're doing a great job! Here's a bonus of $100 — just don't tell the others.' "If it weren't for two things, I would have danced around the shop and hugged my boss's neck. First, back then students at the college I attended weren't allowed to dance. Second, pedestrians passing by the big plate glass storefront of the shop probably wouldn't understand why I was hugging my boss. "God taught me something that day. I discovered that I could never beat Him in a giving competition. God honors obedience. And He loves it when we learn to trust." (Click here to learn more about the book The Cycle of Victorious Giving)
ILLUSTRATION: Mirror, Reflection The first mirrors were made from highly polished metals like copper or brass. Since the 1600s, mirrors have been made from plate glass with a backing of silver covered by coatings of copper, lacquer, and paint. Mirrors do not transmit light but reflect it. The angle at which light strikes a mirror is exactly equal to the angle at which the light is reflected back. Therefore, the image reflected is a "mirror image" of the original. Did you know God has provided a mirror for your life? Modern glass mirrors reflect only the physical aspects of our life, but God's mirror reflects everything else: the spiritual, mental, and emotional aspects of your life. A glass mirror reflects "physical" light whereas God's mirror reflects "spiritual" light. That mirror is, of course, the Word of God. The apostle James even compared the Word of God to a mirror, talking about the changes that come when a Christian "looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it" (James 1:25). The mirror of the Word is like a glass mirror in one respect: It only works if you spend time looking in it. (Turning Point Daily Devotional, 6-6-05)
ILLUSTRATION: Heaven, Death When I talk about heaven, I get so excited that I wonder: Why wait? Let's get a group together and go right now. But that's not how heaven works. If we tried to go to heaven right now, it would be like our preschool children applying to Harvard. We still have much to learn before graduation. Part of our preparation for heaven is the act of dying itself. We hear a lot today about the right to die. In fact, what Dr. Kevorkian and his cohorts are trying to sell us is the right to avoid dying. They would have us go straight from health to death, without the process of surrendering to God in the act of dying. But we cannot skip our finals on the way to graduation. A man named Walter Lowen tells of losing his wife. He stood dazed at the foot of her deathbed, knowing their thirty-seven years together were over, and felt that meaning had gone out of his life forever. At that moment, his wife's doctor touched his arm and said in a matter-of-fact voice, "You'll see her again." Lowen says, "From that moment on, I could think of my separation from Selma as temporary. Everything that sustained that belief sustained me." Peter Marshall was preaching just as I am now when a sharp pain struck his heart. As he was being carried out of the church, he looked up into the face of his wife, Catherine, and said, "See you in the morning, Darling." When does heaven begin? The instant we die. (Vic Pentz, "Heaven: A Sneak Preview")
ILLUSTRATION: Lying, Technology The cashier had already rung up Keri Wooster's items when she realized she didn't have her wallet. She dashed to her car and returned empty-handed to face the line of fidgeting customers she had kept waiting, a cellphone pressed to her ear. "Jordan, did you take my wallet out of my purse?" she asked in parental exasperation, as she made her way back to the checkout counter. "I'm holding up this line! You need to put things back where you find them." Ms. Wooster, who has no children, was not actually talking to a Jordan, or indeed to anyone at all. But her monologue served its purpose, earning her sympathetic looks from the frustrated crowd at her local Wal-Mart. Call Ms. Wooster a cellphoney. She is a part of a growing number of people who are using their cell phones to carry on fake conversations to deceive or manipulate those around them. Some cellphonies use their cell phones to avoid contact with annoying coworkers or supervisors. Some pretend to be finishing a call when they arrive late for a meeting. Others fake conversations to avoid looking lonely or to impress those around them. The fake phone call has an etiquette, or at least a technique, all its own. Inexperienced cellphonies risk exposure with their limited repertoire of "uh-huhs." Sophisticated simulators achieve authenticity by re-enacting their side of an actual dialogue. Or they call voice-activated phone trees, so it sounds as if someone is talking on the other end. (from an article, "Cellphonies Know How to Fake It" by Amy Harmon, Dallas Morning News, 4-25-05; submitted by Neil Bennett)
|
|||
| |||
|
ILLUSTRATION: Hope, Heaven, Freedom From our friends at MovieMinistry.com, here's an illustration from the new movie Madagascar: Marty is a well-cared-for zebra at the New York City zoo. But in front of his treadmill is a mural that depicts a scene of the wild places he longs to go. Marty notices a disturbance in the grassy part of his enclosure. Suddenly, a penguin head pops out. The penguin asks Marty, "What continent is this?" And Marty, puzzled, replies, "Manhattan." The penguin is disappointed, "Still in New York!" and then to the other penguins, "Abort, dive, dive, dive!" But Marty is interested now, he says, "Wait a minute! What are you guys doing?" One of the penguins pipes up, "We're digging to Antarctica!" The boss penguin, stunned by his underling's lack of discretion, slaps him. He asks Marty if he has ever seen penguins "running around in New York City?" The penguin whispers that there aren't any, "We don't belong here. It's just not natural." The penguins say that they are "gong to the wide-open spaces of Antarctica. To the wild." The words are magic in Marty's ears, "To the wild? You can actually go there?" One by one the penguins begin to disappear down the hole. Frantically, Marty shouts, "Hey! Hold up! Where is this place? Tell me where it is!" Waving his flipper like a Jedi master working a mind trick, the penguin intones, "You didn't see anything . . . right?" And Marty says, "Right. Right. Yes, sir!" But his desire to escape has been ignited. Application: Just like Marty, deep down inside there is a quiet voice that reminds us that this world we inhabit is not what it was meant to be. What should feel like home is now unnatural — marred by sin. People are constantly looking for ways out, but they often run into people who give bad directions. So some try to escape by filling their lives with things, others through drink and drugs, and others by taking advantage of others. Most people cannot show the way out, because they have never been out themselves. What we were made for is heaven, and God gives us glimpses of it in our everyday lives. Like Marty, we need directions. Fortunately Christ has shown us the way and now empowers us to direct others. Unlike the penguins, we are not to keep it a secret, but should shout it out so that all who seek a better country can find it. (For a variety of illustrations from current and classic films, visit www.movieministry.com)
"The great composer does not set to work because he is inspired, but becomes inspired because he is working. Beethoven, Wagner, Bach and Mozart settled down day after day to the job in hand with as much regularity as an accountant settles down each day to his figures. They didn't waste time waiting for inspiration." (Earnest Newman)
The May-June issue of Leader Links is now available at www.leaderlinks.com. Leader Links is designed to be of value to anyone in leadership issues — from business people to professionals to church leaders. Interested readers can also go to the site (or just click here) and subscribe to LeadingNow, a monthly e-mail newsletter featuring ideas and resources for Christian leaders.
Fathers are men who give daughters away to other men who aren't nearly good enough, so that they can have children that are smarter than anybody's.
Top 8 Wrong Ways for Dad to Initiate a Son into Manhood 8. Teach him the secret male ritual of leaving the toilet seat up and the toilet paper roll empty. 7. Have a ceremony where you give him his own remote control. 6. Lead him through an afternoon of rigorous physical training in the back yard while you sit in a lawn chair with a half-gallon of ice cream. 5. Eat until you're about to burst and then ride the Screamin' Hurler roller coaster. 4. Walk behind him through his school halls yelling, "You da man!" 3. Send him to the local discount store to buy mom's "personal things." 2. Give him Grandma's lime green Gremlin with personalized license plates that say, "TUFFGUY." 1. Send the womenfolk shopping, then get out your secret Old Yeller video and have a good cry together. (from Mikey's Funnies)
And finally . . . Pastors deal with funerals and funeral-related issues all the time, but it's unlikely you've ever had this experience. According to a June 10 story in the Houston Chronicle, the family of Vivian Shulman Lieberman went to visit her final resting place in a Houston mausoleum a year ago, only to discover that the cedar chest containing her ashes was missing. "In its place, behind the locked, glass door of Lieberman's niche in Congregation Beth Israel's mausoleum, was a can of sour-cream-and-onion potato chips. "The ashes are still missing, says Philip Hilder, an attorney for Lieberman's two daughters. 'We have been devastated,' Marcelle Lieberman said this week. 'We hope we will be able to find her remains before we die, to give us closure of some sort.' As you can imagine, lawsuits are flying, though the synagogue and two companies involved all deny responsibility. "This is a first for me," said Robert Fells of the Virginia-based International Cemetery and Funeral Association. (Click here to read the full story.) http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3219338
Not a current subscriber to Preaching magazine? Why not share PreachingNow with a friend? Missing
an issue of PreachingNow? Problems
with links? Received
this by mistake? |
| PreachingNow is a publication of American Ministry
Resources. Editor: Dr. Michael Duduit. |